Looking Back - Taking Stock - Looking Forward

Wow, I can't believe it is already February 1st. Today is mine and my husbands 38th wedding anniversary. WOW.........who would have ever thought, I was only 15 1/2 and he was 16. (I think I will try to scan a picture of us then and post it) The Lord has blessed me with such a wonderful man who has worked hard all his life to provide for his family. I pray that I have been just as diligent at being a helpmeet to him.

  I was looking in on my blog that has been so neglected and then over to my picture files and I can't believe I was so slack in taking pictures and posting last year. I hope to do much better this year.

It seems as though I was under a lot of stress last year, so many things going on with so many of my family members. My mother was struggling with some health issues that took some time to resolve and my father is battling bladder cancer and he also slipped on Ice and broke his back. He is doing well now and so is my mother, but my parents are aging and going through all that comes with that. I live an hour away from them and that can be very frustrating at times when I can't be there to help as much as I would like.

Last year we learned that my brother has prostrate cancer that has spread to all his bones. He was responding to the treatment for awhile but now it is advancing. He too lives and hour away and I will be trying to go and see him every other weekend now. (my heart is sick)


On a lighter side, the girls and I are back homeschooling this year and it is going very well. I kinda fell apart and sent them back to public school half the year last year but we started out in September of 2012 homeschooling again and it has been a much better year. I feel like we have found our groove. We are still using Sonlight for our curriculum and we love it.

There was lots going on last year, we had expanded the garden and I canned and froze everything I could get my hands on. Now I'm planning this years garden and looking at seed books. Evaluating what I put up too much of and what I put up that I could have used more of. This is still very much a learning process for me. I try to do a 1 year food storage and am still learning how much of what, what did well that I want to repeat, what was over kill what didn't work so well.

Also looking into all the other stuff I stock up on because my husbands work is seasonal and is usually out of work every winter. I try to stock up and fill the freezers all summer through fall and we pretty much live off that all winter and spring. So far It has been working out ok but we have run out of a few things. This year I will have a better understanding of what we need more of.

Here are a few picture from last year, maybe my picture enthusiasm will be stronger this year.

 At the gun range, my family are hunters and Portia & Jayda took hunters safety last year with my son Wayne and with Papa.

 above, Portia and Papa below is my grandson, Jansen with his fancy green riffle.

 Wayne, Papa and Portia

 My grandson, Jaren with his fancy red riffle.

 The new chicken house, painting it is on my todo list for this year.

 We borrowed a pony last year for Paris to ride on our trail rides. His name is Freckles and he was such a great pony for Paris to have around and ride last year that we are going to get him again this year. Her horse, Honeypie is not quit ready for her yet.

 This is Penny (pretty penny) she is Portia's new mare that was given to us last year. she is so pretty and sweet. I love her and she is so gentle to ride for anyone.

 

I have more to post but for now, blessings to all, stay well!

Keep your eyes on the Lord, He will keep your foot from stumbling!

Vacation Bible School 2011 | Mountain Life Church

It that time of year again............We just finished two weeks of swimming lessons and now a week of VBS!

I will be running the snack kitchen.....beach themed....How bout blue jello with red gummy fish swimming in it topped with white ocean foam (cool whip)

Vacation Bible School 2011 Mountain Life Church

4-H lambs

Its been a project to say the least but what a great learning experience for us all.
Jaren and Portia raised two lambs (well there was a third but Jansen dropped out) for 4-H. After feeding and walking them all summer then we took them to the county fair where they showed them in showmanship and market judging. Portia got third place in her showmanship class. Both kids did a really great job. This was a three day process and on the last day the lambs were auctioned off. The kids get the money that their lambs sold for. The money will go into their savings accounts.


Portia's lamb brought $1,105.00

Jaren's lamb brought $690.00

They had to bathe them each day we were there

We sheared and bathed them at home before we took them to the fair grounds

I am one very proud Grammy! these kids did a great job for there first year, they learned a lot and if they decided to do it again next year (and I hope they do) then they will know what they need to do to improve and they now know what to expect and how much money they could get for their lamb if they were Grand Champion lamb, the Champion lamb sold for $15.00 a pound and it was about 130 pound lamb. That is almost two thousand dollars. All I can say is it better taste pretty good for $15.00 a pound.

VBS

The girls had a fun and crazy week at VBS. It was a western/ranch theme and there were singing cowboys and mini horses. They had crazy hair day and fun snacks. I worked in the kitchen doing the snacks for about 140 kids each day.

PORTIA END OF SCHOOL YEAR

Graduation Day...can you tell it was a bit windy?

Portia as a rabbit in her opera

Paris had to try on Portia's costume. She really got a big kick out of herself.
Time to breath..... It's been a very busy month for Portia. She has had an end of year dance recital a school play/opera, field day, bowling day, swimming, a 4th grade BBQ/yearbook signing and 4th grade graduation. She has had lots of end of the year assignments to get those grades up. She did it though, she buckled down and worked hard sometimes even well past her bed time. I'm very proud of her! She has really showed me that when challenged, she can and will rise to the occasion. She won a metal for her science project, got several A's and B's (mostly)on her report card. This year she has learned to write in cursive and memorized all her multiplication facts. She has really improved in her reading skills too. WAY TO GO PORTIA!!!

Portia turns 10

Our beautiful, sweet and kind Portia Pie is ten years old today May 2nd

Friendship braclets kit

A homemade birthday cake

cousins

A pretty birthday girl with a sweet smile

Balloons that PaPa and Paris went to get and some new clothes for summer she has out grown nearly everthing from last summer

Happy Birthday Portia, I sure hope you had a good day. We love you soooo much! You are such a sweet girl with a kind heart. I know that God has a wonderful plan for your life.

Paris Dance

Just a few random pictures of Paris in her dance class. The photo quality is not the greatest but you can see that she tries hard and she really does listen to her teacher, she loves her! Miss Heather is so nice to Paris and she has a Granddaughter her same age that is also in this class.

Portia and Jayda playing Race Horse Trivia
Portia just finished a non-fiction book project
The subject she chose was the famous race horse named Secretariat
He won the Triple Crown in 1973 and was voted horse of the year twice
We both enjoyed learning about this horse and about the Triple Crown
Afterwards she had to make a board game about the subject she chose and we made a Race Horse Trivia game
It is actually a fun game to play watch out though if you land on the wrong spot your jockey might fall off and you will loose a turn

Easter

I'm so glad I didn't throw this out......About a week ago I was going through the girls books and cleaning them out, sorting them and passing Portia's books on to Paris that she has out grown. I came across a book of the story of Easter that had been damaged by water. Well being the perfectionist that I am I thought I would throw it out and by a new book on the subject. After thinking it over for a minute I realized that it was so close to Easter that I might as well just set it out on the counter and go over the story with the girls when I got the chance....

Well, Portia saw it on the counter and picked it up. She read the title and then opened the book. She flipped through a few pages and then puzzled..she looked at me and said.....Grammy, I don't get it, what has this got to do with Easter? I just stood there and starred at her for a minute letting it sink in what she was really asking me..... Then I said, are you kidding me? Portia grinned with her cute grin and said no, I mean there are no Easter baskets or eggs or bunnies or anything like that in this book so what does it have to do with Easter? I couldn't believe it. I knew Portia knew the story of the gospel, she has excepted Christ as her savior and even asked to be baptised last summer but what I had never realized was that she had never connected the two together. Easter and Christ dieing on the cross and rising from the dead on the third day. She knew he had died for our sins on the cross she just never knew that that IS Easter.

The truth is that this IS the truth! People, friends, family listen to the voice of reason. Truth is always truth, either Jesus is who He said he is or He was just a mere man. And if He is who He said He is then there is only one way to get to Heaven and that is through Him......The truth about Easter is absolute.

It can change your life....
The truth about Jesus and His mercy and grace changes me a little more every day.....Easter baskets are cute, chocolate bunnies are yummy, fake grass gets all over the house........Time with family is precious and comforting to get together and eat all the food that is so familiar to us, it's fun to watch the kids hunt for the eggs that all the guys have hidden but don't forget what Easter is all about and if you don't know for yourself then seek out the TRUTH for it never changes. It makes ALL the difference in the end!
Happy Easter! "HE IS RISEN"

You just never know what God will use to teach us. IF you will submit your will to him He will use you in ways you never imagined. He is using me to teach a direct these darling grand children of mine. Portia has now read the story of Easter and also read about it in her bible...I took this opportunity and took her to a Good Friday service and we took communion together. It was special. Now she gets it! :o) Thank You Lord! Amen

The little book that is water damaged.